Japan Air Lines sponsored a haiku contest for poets in the United States in 1964. This was the first and by far the largest competition outside Japan; some 41,000 entries were received in 17 contests arranged by local radio stations. Prominent Zen specialist Alan Watts was the contest judge. Watts selected one National Winner and eighty-three semifinalists, whose winning haiku were published by JAL in a booklet, Haiku ’64. The 1964 JAL contest is commonly believed to have been the catalytic event in American haiku.

The first large-scale meeting of haiku poets from Japan and the United States took place in San Francisco in 1987 under the auspices of Japan Airlines and the Association of Japanese Haiku Poets. About 160 American and 40 Japanese poets attended. Presentations were made by Americans Makoto Ueda, Jerry T. Ball, Garry Gay, and Tom Tico, and by Japanese Kin’ichi Sawaki, Shigeru Ekuni, and Yoshiko Yoshino.